


Softie

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Immortals - Tamora Pierce, Tamora Pierce - Tortall series
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2008, recipient:Senri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-23
Updated: 2008-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-11 10:59:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/111681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers for the Wild Magic quartet. Back from Carthak at last, Daine decides to relax for an afternoon, only to be interrupted by an unpleasant visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Softie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Senri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senri/gifts).



> Written for: Senri in the Yuletide 2008 Challenge
> 
> A huge thanks to my betas, the wonderful Mardy and Snow

Daine was reclining on a large flat rock, propped up on her elbows, idly watching the ripples that a few cavorting ducks were making in the shallow pool. The pool was the result of a dammed up river in the forest around the castle, secluded enough that Daine could be alone with her animal friends, but close enough that Numair wouldn't worry.

The beaver couple were currently asleep, cuddled together in their den, but they had spoken to Daine when she had first arrived. The small family of mice that lived beneath Daine's rock were scampering around her, and many of the younger ones were playing in her hair. Queen Thayet's birthday celebration had been held a few nights before, and in an attempt to tame her curly locks, Daine had allowed some of the Rider women to twist her hair into a hundred tiny braids.

Daine wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the braids, though she had gotten more than a few compliments on it at the ball. The mice had been uncertain at first as well, but soon the younger ones were twining through the braids, chittering excitedly.

Daine stretched her arms out as far as she could get them, feeling the pleasant tension pulling kinks out of her spine. It was actually a stress-relieving trick that she had learned from the palace cats: finding a warm place and then curling and stretching in the sun. She had been a bit skeptical at first, but after trying it for herself Daine had to agree that it really did help her relax.

Unfortunately, the calm of her nice stretch was interrupted by a horrible jingling sensation in the back of her mind. Daine easily identified the feeling as being that of a Stormwing, and one Stormwing in particular. He was still a good distance away, so Daine simply closed her eyes and relaxed as completely as she could into the sun-warmed rock.

About twenty minutes later, something heavy landed on a tree somewhere behind and slightly to the left of Daine. Immediately the mice that had been playing in her hair stilled, trembling. Without opening her eyes, Daine sent reassurance to the mice and then said, "Hello, Rikash."

Rikash snorted. "I suppose you sensed me coming?" he asked. Daine heard the snick of his feathers ruffling together, as though he was puffing himself up.

"Yes, but anyone could have smelled you coming long before I sensed you," she replied, her voice tart but friendly. Despite the first encounters she had had with Stormwings, Daine couldn't drag up the same feelings of hatred for Rikash that she felt for most of his kind. It was odd, but, after the events in Carthak, she and the Immortal shared a kind of almost friendship.

Rikash snorted and ruffled his feathers again, but he didn't try to attack. "I can't be that bad off in appearance, if you are trying so hard to imitate me," he replied smugly. Daine was about to ask what he meant when she heard another sound on the breeze. It was the clack of tiny bones, and Daine conjured an image in her mind of Rikash, with his long blond braids, bones twined through them.

"You may flatter yourself all you like," Daine replied, "but you are the last being I would want to imitate in such a way." She smiled, her nose crinkling in laughter, as she pictured the expression on Rikash's face. "Oh course, I'd have to cake my braids in filth first, to achieve your stunning look."

Daine finally propped herself up on her elbows again and twisted around to look at Rikash. To her immense shock, she noticed that he was actually somewhat clean. Or, at least, much cleaner than he usually appeared. "Rikash! You bathed! Did I hurt your feelings all those times that I insulted your stench?" Daine smiled drolly. "Because, really, I feel just terrible about that."

Rikash leveled a deathly glare at the young wild mage and shuffled his feet on the branch he had perched on. Daine suspected that he was debating whether or not he wanted to risk attacking her, but at last the Stormwing settled down again. His icy glare remained fixed on her.

"Or did you perhaps annoy another Mage?" Daine taunted. "I know Numair and Alanna were speaking just last week of creating a spell to throw different things at your lot, since Numair's onion bomb spell worked so well."

The blond Stormwing snarled, his light green eyes darkening as they narrowed. "I invite him to try it again. Your precious teacher might discover that the Stormwings have more tricks than he thinks we do!" In an undertone that Daine barely caught, he added, "See how he likes it."

Daine laughed, startling the mice that had been cautiously peeking between her braids. "Now that would be a sight to see! Numair throwing onions at you, and you lot throwing them right back! Remind me to bring a lady's parasol and kerchief to protect myself!"

"If all the Carthaki Emperor's finery couldn't make you a proper lady, I doubt a parasol and kerchief could improve you that much," Rikash replied snidely.

Daine laughed, acknowledging the truth in the comment. She was a starling, not a peacock. "Is that perhaps why you are so clean?" she asked, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Did you fall into the Great Inland Sea while returning here from Carthak?"

"Ha! As though any being who didn't have to would bother to travel the whole distance between your two countries." Rikash paused, and his tone changed to one of false innocence. "You and your companions should have just blinked into the Divine Realms, as I did." Rikash laughed nastily. "Oh, wait, I forgot, you can't. I had returned to your Realm a full month before you did."

Daine made a rude gesture over her head at the Immortal, and he made a foul noise in return. "Then where have you been hiding all this time? I'm sure Onua would have mentioned receiving any visits from someone as polite and courteous as you." There was now a hint of genuine curiosity in Daine's tone.

There had been very few reports of Stormwings in Tortall in the time that she and the others had been gone to Carthak, and those mostly from the southern coast. If Rikash had been there, he surely would have found her out when their ships landed, long before she made it to Corus.

Rikash sighed. "If you must know, I was visiting Lady Maura. You did say that she missed me." His voice was quiet, almost as though he was ashamed of his admission. Daine found it quite sweet, and decided to tell him as much.

"Aw, Rikash, you big softie. That is really quite adorable." Daine said, her voice dripping with honeyed sweetness.

Rikash growled low in his throat, and Daine again heard his claws shifting on the branch. The mice in her hair scrambled for cover, and Daine lightly trailed her fingers over the longbow that rested beside her. She wouldn't aim for any of his vulnerable parts, of course, but it might be fun to see if she could make him lose a feather or two.

"So that explains the bath at least," Daine continued. "You can't resist anything that that child asks, can you? I shall have to remember that for future battles. And blackmail, of course-"

A scraping sound and the first powerful stroke of wings was all the warning Daine had, as Rikash launched himself at her. Leaves and bits of bark rained down on Daine, obscuring her sight as she lunged off the rock, swinging her longbow into position. Rikash was pulling himself up, a red light glowing between his claws. His face was twisted into an ugly sneer that Daine remembered well from her other encounters with the Immortals.

"You know," she said, holding her bow loose but ready, "Maura would never forgive you if you hurt me."

Rikash paused, considered her for a moment, and then threw the red light at Daine. She loosed her arrow and ducked, shielding her eyes. With a muted boom, the Stormwing magic exploded harmlessly above her, buffeting her with warm air. As soon as it was clear, Daine looked for Rikash. He was soaring higher into the sky, cursing fiercely. Looking closely, Daine saw that one of his wings was missing a long feather.

Retrieving her arrow and the silver feather, Daine followed his path with her eyes and, just before Rikash left her vocal range, she shouted after him. "Softie!"


End file.
